The history of furniture: how furniture appeared, the main periods of development, interesting facts. History

Due to the lack of a normal paid job, you can create your own business, as Dinis Valiakhmetov did. On this moment he has three brand stores in Omsk furniture factory Involux and another mattress store.

Dinis recalls how, after receiving a diploma and unsuccessful attempts to get a job, he wanted to return to the village of Krasnoyarka, from where he had once come to receive an education. But there were no prospects in his native land either.

Then, nevertheless, the graduate found a job in the transport department of the city of Omsk, where he worked for a year and a half. Alas, the salary could not even cover the cost of renting an apartment. Such a not particularly joyful coincidence of circumstances pushed Dinis to open his own business.

The young businessman studied at SibADI as a specialist in the organization of road safety and accident investigation. This education opened up prospects for a graduate in any traffic police or in the service of emergency commissioners. But Dinis immediately realized that this kind of work was not to his liking, although his older brother had been successfully working in the traffic police for a long time.

Thanks to Professor SibAdi Yuri Ryabokon, with whom the graduate maintained excellent relations with his studies, Dinis was employed in the mayor's office as a leading security engineer of the auditing service.

For a year and a half he worked for 7,600 rubles a month, he drove around the city in search of defects on the roads that should be corrected.

For example, there is no road sign or markings. The efficiency of his work was about 1%. Even then, Dinis understood that the work was meaningless, he wanted to quit, but his father insisted that work in the administration had its own prospects.

While working at the mayor's office young man were fully supported by their parents, because such a tiny salary did not even allow them to pay even the rent of an apartment. This situation was very stressful for the guy, and he decided to change his activity.

Together with his friend, the future owner furniture stores organized a barbecue point at the Pervomaisky market. The tenants allowed to rent a place with a deferred payment for 3 months, the same agreement was reached when purchasing food.

The guys were able to convince the suppliers that the openable kebab would be an exceptional place. Thus, drinks, various chips, chocolates and gum were obtained. Young people bought meat and marinated themselves in their rented apartment.

Friends worked in turns, a partner from morning until 7 pm, and Dinis immediately after work at the mayor's office and until one in the morning. The kebab business allowed the young man to earn three times more than he received in his main job.

But such a rhythm and way of life quickly deprived of strength, and the apartment was saturated with the smell of pickled meat. Then the young entrepreneur left the barbecue for a friend, but he could not cope with such a job alone and as a result closed the business.

Seasonal depression

Then Dinis managed to get a job in a construction company of his acquaintances, where he was engaged in sales. The current businessman tells how he easily negotiated bonuses with suppliers, and how the management listened to him in matters of promotion.

But only these successes did not particularly affect his salary.

Once, having received 12 thousand rubles, Dinis realized that it would be easier for him to do this on his own - it would be more effective and more profitable.

And he got busy, opening a point of sale in a rented office. The young entrepreneur was selling the same materials as his former employer. The surviving developments with suppliers helped to organize the business, the only drawback is seasonality, in winter time practically no work.

The sales salon went through two quiet winters, after which Dinis decided to look for a different branch for sale, which does not have a seasonal nature of work.

While the businessman was in search, a relative advised him to start selling sofas. At first, the guy didn't really like this idea, since there were quite enough competitors in the Omsk furniture market. And then Dinis got the idea to become an exclusive distributor of a furniture factory in Omsk.

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The building materials business enabled the businessman to create savings that were invested in a new business. The start-up capital consisted of the accumulated 500 thousand rubles, plus relatives helped, this money was enough to open the first furniture store.

During the winter stagnation in the building materials market, the guy studied the details and features of running a furniture business by visiting existing stores and communicating with sellers. In the course of the study, he identified shortcomings in the work, and also calculated the possible risks.

DIY shop

Thanks to the emergence of an agreement on the Customs Union between Russia and Belarus, the businessman brought the new brand to Omsk. The furniture factory Involux, with which Dinis agreed, is Belarusian. In this republic, the pricing is slightly different, which influenced the choice of a businessman.

The ideal ratio of price and quality before the crisis and a fairly wide range of products attracted the young man. This factory specializes in office and children's furniture. According to the store owner, the lion's share of the proceeds comes from the sale of children's furniture.

After choosing a partner, the businessman needed a place to trade. He wanted to rent an area on the ground floor in the Continent, which, as it turned out, was claimed by another 40 firms, and they had been waiting for their turn for about two years. The option with waiting did not suit Valiakhmetov and he decided to agree to the third floor, where there was nothing else besides two salons of mattresses.

At first, Dinis did everything with his own hands, a good furniture salon requires at least 1.5 million rubles of investment (he spent this amount opening a new store in Kit-Interior), but in fact the young man had 600 thousand rubles in his hands. Therefore, at night, Dinis himself made repairs in the pavilion, he even carried out the delivery of furniture and its assembly on his own.

Since the third floor was practically empty, competing salons were located on the first floor, and the rent of 100 thousand rubles had to be paid, the store owner decided to make a powerful advertisement.

This brand was unknown on the market, mostly “Shatura” and “Lazurit” were heard. Thanks to the administration of "Continent", which bought advertising space in bulk, the businessman placed an advertisement on a billboard. shopping center(for Continent, they cost a fairly low price, so the management helped new unknown companies in promotion). In addition, Dinis was able to persuade the management of the factory to start promoting his brand.

Once Dinis dreamed that there was a podium with samples of furniture on the first floor of the Continent. The guy decided to bring this idea to life. A brother from the village helped him to make the basis for the podium, which did not require large expenses.

And the main competitors, although annoyed by this fact, cannot allocate funds for something similar, because no one even guesses that much can be done with their own hands. With the help of various advertising tools, the owner of furniture stores in six months was able to attract a good flow of customers and increase the turnover, which was constantly growing until the December crisis came, Valiakhmetov shares.

Kazakhstan saved from the crisis

A successful start in the furniture business has taken place, now you need to think about recruiting personnel. Dinis very carefully selected sales consultants and furniture assemblers.

The furniture business is quite specific, there is a lot of competition. That is, it is necessary to convey to the buyer not only what it is, for example, a wardrobe or a bed, but also why he should choose them and why they are better than others.

A lot also depends on the assembler, at first it was necessary to deal with the breakdown of furniture, which the entrepreneur changed at his own expense. Was later found excellent customer service with professional workers, after which the number of complaints not only decreased, but disappeared altogether.

Having already had three outlets for the sale of furniture, the businessman opened a mattress salon, this request came to him from the manufacturer himself. Since the product is related to his main activity, Dinis decided to become the official representative of the Italian brand Lineaflex, which launched production in the Moscow region.

The crisis in the global foreign exchange market affected the furniture business. Supplier prices went up sharply due to exchange rate fluctuations, naturally buyers began to be eliminated.

The most difficult time came in February, two months before it managed to hold out at the expense of Kazakhstani buyers, who maintained a stable demand for furniture. The entrepreneur himself loves to joke on this topic, supposedly the neighbors helped out.

According to the estimates of the entrepreneur, a month for rent, advertising and other expenses, it takes about 750 thousand rubles... In difficult times, these payments had to be partially made from their own funds, which were set aside for business expansion. The owner of the salon chain considers it a good sign that he managed to withstand the crisis at a time when many of his competitors were forced to close.

The businessman does not make big plans for the future; for the near future, Dinis Valiakhmetov has a project to expand the business. Negotiations are already underway with various furniture manufacturers to bring new brands to the city.

At the moment, the demand for furniture has stabilized, the dynamics show good prospects. For a long time, Dinis has dreamed of opening a restaurant, perhaps in the future it will come true.

It all started in the mid-90s.

I, then a graduate of the machine-tool technical school, with the first money I earned, decided to give my mother a gift. Buy a new kitchen. At that time (who remembers this time) in the Moscow region there were only two factories that were engaged in the manufacture kitchen furniture... These are "MosKomplekt" (on the basis of which the firm "Medyn" is now operating) and the Elektrogorsk furniture factory (now alive). The choice fell on "ElektogorskMebel".

I brought it, collected it and enjoyed the process. Then there were experiments ...

Due to the irrepressible imagination and lack of proposals, all these experiments, multiplied by the knowledge and experience gained, led to the founding of a new enterprise - the Kuznets Furniture Factory. Machines were purchased for the production of simple kitchen frames, on which the facades of MDF with foil were hung. They were dragged first from Poland, and then they began to make them themselves.

From this moment, the age of the "Blacksmith" begins. And the time was interesting - 1997. Only a year later, Crisis-98 thundered. At that time, it helped us a lot with our formation.

Since 2000, "Kuznets" was one of the first in the country to use Italian wooden facades. We learned to use all kinds of decorative elements... We have formed our view on the "correct" cuisine. And contrary to all trends, we firmly declare: The kitchen from Kuznets is beautiful and comfortable kitchen based on only quality materials... And in no other way.

Perhaps my mistake was the movement of the factory towards designer and exclusive furniture, instead of developing sales and opening new stores. And these years, one might say until the next crisis in 2008, were not in vain. In general, all crises helped us... Before my eyes, the development of an entire industry took place. People who started to produce furniture next to me and at the same time moved in different directions. Who found themselves as a supplier of accessories, who opened a bunch of stores, and who simply did not pull and dropped out of the game. It was a time of trial and error. But these moments helped me to channel the energy of the firm in a completely different direction.

• I think we managed to combine the incompatible. Build a factory that can work with a retail client on order, but at the same time produce a large number of kitchens, with a small, I emphasize, a small number of workers. A production that is able to process 150-200 sets, with only 12 people in its production chain.

At the same time, we do not limit our customer's choice. Any fittings, any filling and any facades (from Italian to Russian) from any materials - make it possible for each client to realize all their most cherished desires.

Sincerely, Nikolaev Vasily Borisovich

History furniture factory"VICTORIA" founded in 1997 in the city of Ulyanovsk has a long and very difficult history of education and development throughout the years of its existence. The roots of the factory sprout from the Aviastar plant, the city-forming aviation industrial complex created in 1976. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the position of the plant, like many enterprises in the USSR, was catastrophic. Low wages, delays in their payment for several months, led to a large outflow of qualified aircraft manufacturers in search of earnings in "non-aviation" industries. One of them was the founder of the future furniture factory "VICTORIA" Vladimir Leonidovich Vinogradov.

The timely decision to create the factory by Vladimir Leonidovich ensured the preservation of the team of aviators, for whom the change in the specifics of production turned out to be uncomplicated process, at that time it was 1997. Without doubting the success, the founder of the factory gave it the name “ VICTORIA"(Lat. Victoria) - in Roman mythology - the goddess of victory. The first products of the factory were upholstered furniture, which was produced by the hands of a dozen craftsmen using the simplest equipment assembled by the craftsmen themselves.

The production developed at a rapid pace, which made it possible for several years to expand the range of upholstered furniture to the level of production that has been operating for more than 10 years. Following the upholstered furniture, a workshop for the production of kitchen sets was opened, and three years later, the launch of the production of interior doors followed. It was after the launch of the direction "interior doors", the director of the enterprise, came up with the idea of ​​expanding production for the complex arrangement of houses and residential premises on a turnkey basis, which is successfully operating today under the IKEA brand and is slowly but surely implemented by the furniture factory "VICTORIA" ... The motto of the factory: "We give you comfort" reflects the vector of the direction of development for decades to come to this day.

Today the furniture factory "VICTORIA" is a diversified enterprise with its own production and auxiliary areas in the amount of 38,000 m2, which has no analogues in Russia in terms of the types of products it produces: classic style kitchens, modern style kitchens, bedroom sets, dining groups, interior style doors Classic, interior doors in Modern style. The workshops of the factory are equipped with machines of well-known international companies: "BIESSE", "IMA", "BURKLE", "BRAN", "KOCH", "ALTENDORF", etc. ... also kitchens, interior doors, tables, chairs, bedroom sets. At the furniture factory "VICTORIA" designers, marketers, technologists are constantly working on the development and implementation of promising, modern and constantly improving products into production. Constant exchange of experience with leading foreign companies, training of workers in Europe, participation in large specialized exhibitions - all this allows the staff of the furniture factory to maintain a high level of professionalism.

It is unlikely that we will ever know the solution to the mystery of the appearance of furniture. She probably appeared at the moment when a woman began to take care of creating coziness and comfort in her home, forcing her husband, who had returned from a tedious hunt, to make primitive, but much-needed pieces of furniture ...

The word "furniture" comes from the French - meuble. For several thousand years, furniture has accompanied a person. There is hardly a person who would not be interested in, say, issues related to housing, furniture, beautiful and practical household items.

The oldest pieces of furniture known to us were found in Egypt in royal burials of the 3rd century BC. These are fragments of ebony caskets inlaid with ivory, malachite and turquoise. The first stools in the history of mankind were also found there, one of which was even folding. These stools were made of wood, and the legs in the form of animal hooves were carved from whole elephant tusks. The ancient Egyptians are also the "authors" of the beds and chairs.

The first man-made furniture was tough and highly functional. Only the Egyptian pharaohs could afford to sit in an armchair decorated with gold plates and intricate carvings.

Great, but unpretentious in everyday life, the Greeks came up with laris - a kind of chests that served both as couches and benches.

At this time, the tradition of creating furniture includes the cult of using natural motives. More precisely, the legs of all ancient stools were made in the form of animal hooves, the armrests of thrones were made in the form of walking lions. In the decoration of thrones for the richest people, they did not skimp on gold, colored enamel, carvings, mother-of-pearl, colored glass... We used mainly paints of warm colors: yellow, red, green, black, brown, as well as blue and white. During excavations, when examining the chair of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, it was discovered that the upper part of the back is decorated with a metal plate depicting a golden winged sun - the sign of the god Ra.

It is noteworthy that it was the Egyptians who had to invent many innovations in the development of furniture ensembles: chairs, armchairs, benches, stools, tables, beds, chests and chests - it was their invention. It should be noted that simple people stored food, clothing and other utensils mainly in baskets, caskets and earthen vessels. They slept on mats, wicker mats, spread out right on the floor. They sat, depending on their wealth, on bundles of reeds, straw, or on the simplest stools.

Excavations in Greece have shown that the ancient Greeks' attention was mainly paid to the art of architecture, but the cult of furniture did not yet exist. If it was made, it was made of wood, bronze and marble. Although the original samples of wooden furniture from that time have not survived. The most important type home furniture there was a chest - a special box for storing things. The walls of such chests were covered with paintings in different colors. In addition to chests, in the everyday life of the ancient Greeks, tables on three supports, made in the form of the legs of large animals, were very common.

This is reflected in the rise of the craftsmanship of furniture makers, leads to their competition, the allocation of new specialists from the workshop of carpenters - countertops, chests, lockers. In the XIV century, the "sawmill" was invented, which made it possible to lighten the previously heavy structural elements of furniture.

The artistic form of making furniture, like any creativity, was determined primarily social order at one time or another. Geographical location, technical advances, cultural needs and customer tastes were also decisive factors. Under the influence of these factors, the furniture was continuously changed and improved.

The history of furniture has several climaxes, when artistic traits furniture could rightfully be considered "high art". And one of these periods - late Middle Ages or otherwise - Gothic.

At the beginning of the 17th century, a general increase in living standards and demands led the nobility to desire a more luxurious "living environment". Such tendencies were especially pronounced in cities, where the development of the arts was most reflected in craft workshops.

It was during this period that furniture became a familiar everyday props - an interior item.

The chest in those days was an object of creative interest and was a symbol of the family's well-being. Its front wall was usually covered with reliefs and rows of pointed arcades. Graceful pediments, phials, rosettes, crucifers and human figures also served as adornments. The ornament also depended on the type of wood. So, for example, in southern Germany, Tyrol and Austria from coniferous tree leafy curls were created on a blue or red background. In Scandinavia, England, Northern Italy and Spain, well-planed hard wood was used. In other countries, furniture was decorated with curls, bushes and garlands of flowers and fruits.

Much later than the chair, table and bed, a wardrobe was born. It happened in the Middle Ages in the Gothic castles of feudal Europe. Its prototype was a chest-chest, which tried to stretch upwards from the abundance of stored things and turned into a wardrobe, immediately occupying one of the main places in the furniture hierarchy. The wardrobe began to imitate Gothic castles, decorated with the semblance of turrets, columns and even wooden sculptures. Very convenient for use for various purposes, the wardrobe became the founder of a whole furniture "dynasty": a sideboard with glass doors later arose from it, when they learned to pour glass of a large area, and then appeared and bookcase... With the development of carpentry and human imagination, a hybrid of a table and a bureau cabinet is created.

In addition, were made Various types tables: rectangular with crossed legs, round and oblong, resting on wide side shields.

However, the central place in the decoration of the dwellings of that time was assigned to the bed. In the south, she stood on steps, and in the north she was supplied with a canopy or semi-canopy. In the 16th century, France and the Netherlands preferred to have a bed directly embedded in the wood paneling of the wall.

If the previous styles organically developed from each other, then the Renaissance, through the millennium, chose the artistic heritage of antiquity as the starting point. This style of furniture is characterized by a clear form, clear construction and increased use of architectural elements in the design. Italy became the birthplace of all new forms of artistic expression. Cabinet furniture (chest, wardrobe) are designed as architectural structures, while, as a rule, almost everything is decorated. Various forms of columns, pilasters, floral ornaments are used (for example, a very popular motif - "acanthus", herms, cupids, grotesques, arabesques, braids, garlands, scallops, lion heads, griffins, etc. The joinery reaches a very The color scheme of the Renaissance furniture is restrained. The natural color and texture of waxed wood is played on. At this time the machine for the production of plywood was invented - this opened the way for the spread of the veneering technique, and with it the technique of decorating furniture with intarsia. many pieces of furniture of the Renaissance have come down to us different schools, technician and countries. With a short story about Renaissance furniture, it is also important to note that a wide variety of its designs and trends is associated, among other things, with the huge role of the customer who has become a particularly demanding customer and the fact that not only craftsmen worked on their creation, but also designers - artists who made for them sketches.

In addition to architectural styles, the furniture was very "dependent" on the country where it was created. In France - graceful and decorative, in Germany - durable with abundant sculptural decor, demonstrating the wealth of the owner, in Scandinavia - comfortable and functional. And the British even created their own armchair style thanks to the master T. Chippendale, who gave the name to this style. The rationality of the forms of such noble wood furniture was combined with skillful and delicate decor. The imitation of the Chippendale style in the United States has come to be known as the colonial style in furniture.

The interiors of the East are completely separate and independent of European influences. A lot of wicker things made of reeds, ropes or strips of leather, furniture made of dark, almost ebony wood. Everything is low, unusual for the European eye: screens and ottomans, benches inserted into one another, small tables.

Upholstered furniture originated in the castles of the European nobility during the period of classicism. In France, the trendsetter in interior decoration, at this time the residences of kings and palaces of the nobility were being built. At first, the furniture intended for the seat was simply covered with fabric. Then, when the owners of the castles became more and more accustomed to luxury and comfort, and their clothes became lighter, less insulated and multi-layered, it turned out to be not very comfortable to sit on hard chairs and sofas. Upholstered furniture was "stuffed" with horsehair, sheep's wool, swan's down, later rubber began to be used, and nowadays foam rubber and synthetic winterizer.

Russian furniture in its development has passed basically the same historically established styles as European furniture. But in Russian samples there is always a sense of great originality, originality in the interpretation of the form and decoration of the product, with the identification of its national character.
V Ancient Rus the furniture was created by folk craftsmen, who over the centuries have developed very convenient forms and designs, passed down from generation to generation and preserved in everyday life (especially in peasant furniture) until the 19th century. Furniture was closely related to the architectural layout of the premises, and was often built in exactly the place assigned to it.
The main furnishings of the dwelling were benches, benches and stools with square or round seats, which were called chairs or socks. Open shelves for dishes, wall-mounted or floor-standing cabinets, massive tables equipped with drawers or cupboards. Chairs and armchairs were rare. The benches and benches were made stationary (along the walls) or portable; they were intended not only for the seat, but also replaced the beds. The benches were with and without backs. The backs were sometimes made cross-over and were called a saddle (the bench was then called a saddle). The chest in the setting of a Russian dwelling appeared later.
Furniture was decorated with through and blind carvings, saw-cut patterns, various profiles, chiseled columns that repeated the forms of Russian architecture, and covered with paintings. The ornamentation was dominated by animals, plants (herbs) and geometric motifs.

In church furniture, a wide variety of candle boxes were the main form.
Russian Baroque and Rococo furniture, associated with the names of the remarkable architect Rastrelli, in its forms and decoration repeated all the richness of the architectural forms of buildings.
In the 18th century, iron furniture in Tula began to be made in Russia, but its production was very small and the samples mostly ended up only in palaces. Chairs, armchairs, benches were made, simple in shape, but rather heavy and rigid. These things were distinguished by unusually delicate, filigree processing of details, through ornamentation with a notch of gold and silver, shiny "diamond" edges that form a real metal lace of high artistic quality.
Russian furniture of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries was associated with interior architecture, accurately repeating the basic elements of classicism architecture, creatively using antique architectural forms. The furnishings are light, strict and simple. They were comfortable in shape and not cluttered with decorations. Stingy, well-designed profiles and finishes repeated the ornaments of modeling and painting on walls and ceilings.
Chairs and armchairs of classicism have beautiful rounded lines and profiles, reminiscent of antique designs. They were made taking into account the proportions of the human figure.
The furniture of Russian classicism can be divided into two groups - according to the form, the nature of the decoration and the material. The first group is the palace, ceremonial furniture. It was created according to the projects of the largest Russian architects - A. N. Voronikhin (furniture for the palace in Pavlovsk), K. I. Rossi (furniture for many palaces in St. Petersburg), Giacomo Quarenghi, V. P. Stasov, Domenico Gilardi and others. This furniture was made from expensive materials in the capital's workshops. Gambs and Tours were major furniture makers at this time.

Petersburg master Gambs worked in Russia from about 1790 to the 60s. XIX century. He was a court furniture officer. The Gumbs firm was continued by his son.
Tour was a master cabinetmaker and worked with Gambs.

The second group is household furniture. It was made mainly according to the designs of serf masters in the same strict, highly artistic principles of classical architecture. She filled landlord estates and city houses. Small furniture workshops were in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vyatka and landowners' estates, such as Arkhangelskoye, Ostankino, etc.
The masters created their own original solutions numerous furnishings, in accordance with the taste of customers and with their knowledge of woodworking, enriching furniture with folk art. The names of talented furniture makers are known: Zenina, Nashchekin, Sidorov, Utochkin - in Moscow, Ivan Rudin, Andrey Fedorov - in Vyatka.

The materials for the furniture were mainly birch, walnut, poplar and ash, which were almost always finished with mahogany, which was fashionable at that time. In the 70s of the 18th century, Karelian birch was used for the first time in Russia for the manufacture of furniture. This is a major contribution of Russian craftsmen to the world art of furniture.
A distinctive feature of the furnishings of that time were all kinds of mechanical devices - secret drawers with inconspicuous springs, folding, sliding out with turns of individual parts, a whole system of locks and services, up to tiny musical instruments performing entire opera overtures. In conditions of serf labor, the time spent on the manufacture of the object was not considered.
The transitional style from classicism to Empire style in Russian furniture is called "Pavlovsky", although in time it was much longer than the reign of Paul I, which lasted from 1796 to 1801. Pavlovsk furniture is large and massive in shape. Decorative finishing her with large spots ornamentation on a smooth background, mainly mahogany or Karelian birch, emphasized the massiveness of the object. The character of ornamentation is characterized by a certain theatrical exaggeration of forms: shaggy eagles, bizarre griffins, overweight sphinxes decorate heavy architectural and monumental secretaires, chests of drawers, tables.
Even in the processing of Pavlovian furniture, and then later, under Alexander I, the influence of French Empire style furniture was felt in the manufacture of furnishings. Large planes mahogany, clear and straight shapes of objects were emphasized by the introduction of thin copper stripes, bordering them.
Such furniture was introduced in France by the furniture maker Jacob (Jacob style).
Russian Empire furniture has its own completely original solutions in comparison with the samples of the European Empire style. First of all, Russian furniture is much more monumental. In its decoration, along with classical ornaments, motives of Russian ornaments are used. Furniture is built in strict obedience to the laws of architecture. Decorations and ornaments are concentrated in specific places, leaving large smooth surfaces of polished wood. Instead of bronze for finishing furniture, Russian craftsmen use gilded woodcarving or molding from plaster and gesso.
Various Empire style furnishings filled the palaces and estates of landowners, city houses of the bourgeoisie and merchants. Samples of Empire furniture can be divided into two groups: ceremonial - palace and more intimate household (Russian Biedermeier). At this time, numerous variants of sofas, pre-sofa tables on one pedestal, armchairs in the form of a barrel or a trough with a blank back, wardrobes, dressers, slides, secretaries and a new type of furniture - large mirrors in rich frames were widespread. The furnishings of the Empire style were distinguished by the beauty of proportions and excellent quality of finishing. But this furniture was somewhat dry, austere and uncomfortable for everyday use.
In the 20s of the 19th century, the character of interiors began to change. Instead of ceremonial enfilades of huge halls, more intimate, small rooms appear - a sofa, a tea room, an office, a smoking room. Furniture becomes more comfortable. There is a craving for oriental furniture (20s and 30s), for abundant draperies, oriental soft sofas(to the ottomans). In the decoration of mahogany furniture, the passion for Gothic was affected. Upholstered (woolen) furniture upholstered in quilted leather, cretonne, velvet comes into fashion.

Cretonne upholstered furniture was fashionable in 1870-1880. Armchairs and sofas of all kinds were finished with a complex system of upholstery, with buttons, muslin, lace, velvet with fringes, pendants, pendants, pom-poms. This furniture was extremely heavy, awkward, ugly, unhygienic and fragile.

TO late XIX For centuries, furnishings repeated Rococo furniture, but in simpler and heavier forms, Gumbs introduced walnut furniture into fashion with a simplified and generalized Rococo style ornamentation. Later, things appeared in the decoration of which elements of different furniture styles were eclectically mixed. The rooms are filled with heavy velvet draperies and a host of small things: souvenirs, portraits, cheap paintings in heavy gold frames. The shapes of the furniture are getting smaller, with a lot of chiseled ornaments, painting it mostly black. Renaissance furniture became fashionable. Samples of it were made in large numbers at furniture factories, but they had nothing to do with items of the original Renaissance style.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a fascination with antique furniture appeared. Large furniture factories Fischer and Schmidt in Moscow and Melzer in St. Petersburg produced high-quality art furniture in different styles at the request of customers - the big bourgeoisie and merchants. The Art Nouveau style did not introduce any peculiar national features into Russian furniture in comparison with the samples of European Art Nouveau.

How did the table appear?

An ordinary table - a rectangular board on four legs - has served man since time immemorial. Initially, only the simplest banquet tables were popular - roughly hammered boards mounted on trestles. Princes with their retinues and common people feasted at such tables.

With the development of writing, the very first desks: at that time they were low, and top board them was at knee level. But the table did not serve directly for writing, only inkpots, rulers, pens and knives were placed on it for sharpening them. Then, for added convenience, tables with an opening tabletop appeared, under which many offices and small drawers began to be located.

The ancient Greeks, famous for their liberalism and oratory, for the first time decided to round off the corners of the table and put it on curved legs for negotiations. This is how the round table appeared. In the era of classicism during the development of furniture art furniture craftsmen more than 20 types of tables have already been made: serving tables and full-fledged desks have been made. There appeared gambling tables, tables for handicrafts (the so-called "bobby", shaped like a bob), dressing tables for the bedrooms of beautiful ladies. Tables began to be made not only of wood, but also of all kinds of more expensive materials: marble, bronze, jasper.

How did the chair come about?

In ancient Egypt, during the reign of the pharaohs, when full-fledged chairs did not yet exist, it was customary to sit on benches and simple stools. There is a legend that says that during the burial of one of the pharaohs, one of his entourage simply fell from such an uncomfortable bench. This event could serve as a bad sign.

Therefore, scientists assume that it was after this incident that the first armrests were invented, and later the backrests. But such luxurious and rich pieces of furniture served rather as a throne and were available only to the rulers of the state. The throne turned out to be so convenient that since then not a single sovereign ruler has renounced it. In addition, later, the presence of a chair became a sign of belonging to the richest class. It is noteworthy that in ancient Greece, unlike Egypt, chairs were the privilege of only women and children. Men preferred to recline during leisurely conversations and feasts.

For the ancient Romans, as well as for the Egyptians, a chair or chair was an indicator of how well a person succeeded. And so it was customary to carry their own chair with them: so officials had folding chairs decorated with ivory, which their slaves carried behind them. Only highly respected citizens were allowed to sit on a low, ornate seat. And the head of a wealthy family had the right to sit on a home throne made of marble and arranged in the imperial style.

In Europe, royalty sat on cushioned chairs, nobles sat on ornate seats, and lower-ranking courtiers sat on folding chairs. All other servants had to stand. So long time the chair remained an indicator of wealth and prestige, playing an important role in palace ritual.

For a long time, the task of the ancient masters in the manufacture of a chair was not to create a comfortable and comfortable seat, but to create a stately and rich throne. Often, such chairs doomed a person to many hours of torment, similar to torture. So Louis XIV ordered to make chairs for his palace from pure silver.

And only to XVII century the attitude towards the chair has changed dramatically. It was based on the principle of convenience. The first such chair was a chaise longue, on which you could both sit and lie. Chaise lounges were different in shape: in the form of a boat or in the form of a "broken duchess", which consisted of an armchair and a soft stool attached to it, and sometimes two armchairs and a stool between them. But the cult of the "secular chair" still did not give up its position: for example, a man dressed in a tailcoat had to sit backwards - facing the back of the chair, so as not to wrinkle the folds.

It was only in the middle of the 19th century that the final turning point in the history of furniture construction finally took place. The invention of the Viennese carpenter Mikhail Tonet allowed common man use an ordinary chair in your home due to its practicality and, above all, its low cost. Tonet developed the idea of ​​manufacturing curved wood furniture. By the end of the 19th century, Tonet had already produced 50 million chairs in its factory. Chairs quickly conquered America, Europe and even Russia. Following the example of Tonet, furniture all over the world began to be made of bent structures: plywood, pipes, metal.

V modern history chair, you can observe the most unexpected trends in design ideas. This is how a chair appeared, made of a square pipe; not so long ago a chair was invented with a bowl-shaped seat on a high stand. In England, a chair was invented with a built-in mechanism that allows you to comfortably sit in 4 different positions. The Italians have come up with a chair that turns into a couch in a few seconds. A work chair for the designer was also invented, adapting to any seated height.

In the twentieth century, chemistry is developing rapidly, and the emergence of new synthetic materials and plastics have exploded in the furniture industry. The minimalism of the 60s creates plastic thin-legged tables and chairs, plastic cone lamps. The production of piece furniture has become in-line, the wood has been replaced by substitutes. Further development of the furniture industry leads to the appearance of headsets - this is almost an already furnished room. And as the pinnacle of in-line production - the horror of the recent past: the same "walls" and upholstered furniture with the same upholstery in typical apartments. Today's time has put everything in its place: a wide variety of styles, workmanship (from handmade to flow), materials used, and, accordingly, a large price range - this is the current state of the furniture market. Now everyone is guided in the choice of furniture by their own taste and advice from the designer, limited only by a sense of proportion and ability to pay.

The lifestyle has changed, and new types of furniture have appeared. Furniture for audio and video equipment, computer tables, sofas - transformers, which have everything: from folding tables to massagers and built-in speakers. Design work in the field of furniture design amazes with the boldness of imagination: a pouf in the form of a hat with an apple, a glass table on algae-legs. Furniture making has become an art.

Of course, furniture has always existed in order to facilitate a person's life, improve the interior, and create coziness. Therefore, in different historical periods of time, the manufacturing technology was improved, new and new materials were used. Only one thing remained unchanged - a person's desire to sleep in cozy bed, dine at a table favorable to a meal, sit in a soft and comfortable armchair.

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1994 – year of opening of the furniture factory "Your Day" in the city of Kostroma. Then it was still a small production workshop, the first product of which was produced by hand director general Igor Iosifovich Gosovich.

The enterprise was faced with a difficult task: to defeat the stereotypes about domestic products that have been established since Soviet times and to prove that Russian furniture can be of high quality and stylish. This could only be achieved by creating products using modern world technologies, with constant quality control and search design solutions satisfying the most discerning taste.

In the same 1994, the factory had own retail network.

When the Internet in Russian regions was still perceived as a curiosity, an enterprise from Kostroma already had own site at edris.ru.

From the first years of its existence, Vash Day kept pace with progress not only in production, but also in communication with the audience.

Start wholesales furniture "Your Day". In fact, this is the exit of the Kostroma enterprise to new level... The supply of products to the regions of Siberia and the Far East began. Today, the products are presented in more than 500 showrooms throughout the country. Furniture from the factory "Your Day" is known and highly appreciated throughout the Russian Federation.

In the same year, the factory opens its own design bureau. Your Day specialists begin to design more and more innovative, ergonomic and comfortable models of upholstered furniture.

At the factory open direction of cabinet furniture... Such a step is always a difficult test for a furniture company. As this requires automated batch production with a multi-stage quality control system. Functionality and a variety of design solutions are important here. And the specialists of the company "Your Day" coped with this exam. Developed by modular systems, which can be combined individually for the needs of customers. The cabinet furniture of the Kostroma factory was recognized by experts and made a splash on the market.

From the events of this year, one cannot ignore the opening of the warehouse. finished products, modernization of warehouses and the first shipment of the factory's products by rail. Your Day company is dynamically developing in all areas, including infrastructure and logistics.

Since 2005, the furniture factory "Your Day" has become a regular participant in international furniture exhibitions, including the prestigious "Euroexpofurniture"... Since then, he has been participating in such large-scale events at least once a year.

The products of the Kostroma company are confident enters the market of Russia and the CIS countries... There is an active export of furniture "Your Day" to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Kazakhstan.

In the same year the trade mark "Your Day" is registered.

Since 2006, the company has implemented the 1C program - for storing and organizing complete information about each product unit: when made, by whom (names of workers), what materials were used. This gives buyers the opportunity to get all the comprehensive information about the furniture they choose: what constitutes the price of the goods, what is the quality of raw materials and the level of technologies involved, which guarantees strength, durability and the absence of defects.

There is a similar "dossier" for every piece of furniture. But since then, the factory has already produced more than 500,000 items!

The 15th anniversary of the factory was celebrated the opening of the first salons of the company "Your Day" in Moscow.

The workshops of the factory are equipped with the latest Italian and German equipment: cutting tables, new sewing machines, pneumatic tables for shelling (from leading manufacturers of equipment for the furniture industry: Selco, Homag, Thomas, Biesse, etc.) have been purchased. Serial production of products made using new technologies begins.

The first samples of furniture made of bent-glued elements were produced. For this, a separate production was organized at the enterprise. A unique distinctive feature bent-glued elements of the factory "Your Day" is the use of natural wood using veneer of fine wood.

In the same year, the factory produces the first leather goods. This was preceded by a long painstaking work. Masters from Italy were specially summoned to teach Russian specialists to recognize defects and work with complex and delicate upholstery. Also from Italy is supplied leather for furniture "Vash Day": the material undergoes strict selection from specialists and only after that is used in the manufacture of sofas and armchairs.

Additional production facilities are opened at the factory, production areas are increased. Vash Day begins to conduct direct purchases of fabrics and components from leading manufacturers in Italy, China, Turkey - thereby reducing the cost of production, as well as expanding the choice of upholstery materials for customers.

Opens retail salon of the company "Your Day" in St. Petersburg... Residents of the northern capital reacted quickly to this event. From the first days of the salon's work, the products of the Kostroma enterprise are recognized and in high demand.

An important milestone in the work of the enterprise was start of production of furniture facades.

A large-scale reorganization of production is underway with the participation of Italian consultants from PHI-managment... The logistics at the enterprise has been completely rebuilt. A barcoding system has been introduced. All production processes are standardized, regulated, digitized. The production work is calculated in minutes: now, accepting an order, the factory employees can say with confidence when it will be made!

Quality management system implemented... Factory "Your Day" completely aligns its work with Western patterns, like a real European enterprise. In the same vein, the modernization of the shop of soft elements and the introduction of a system of European quality standards are taking place.

The company employs a specially invited Italian designer Giovanni Lella... Having traveled in Italy from an assembler to a furniture designer, Signor Giovanni is a recognized master of furniture and an expert in all its subtleties. Under his direct supervision, new samples of upholstered furniture are being developed, reflecting the European approach to quality, ergonomics, convenience and design. Among the examples of the works of the Italian designer-constructor: the "Premium" collection (upholstered furniture made from Italian materials with a thoughtful balance of classic and modernity).

The 20th anniversary of the factory!

The company "Your Day" was marked with the highest award that can only be awarded Russian manufacturer furniture - Grand Prix of the competition "Russian Cabriole"... So, in 20 years, he has gone from a small workshop to an all-Russian leader. The success of Vash Day is explained by the fact that interests of the Russian consumer, care for his comfort, aesthetic sense and wallet... And the buyers pay tribute to the Kostroma enterprise, providing constant demand. Therefore, furniture of the brand "Your Day" is popular today not only in Russia, but also abroad, and experts are confident in the brilliant prospects of the brands.